Political homes

U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray says his home is a Pacific Beach condominium previously occupied by a former girlfriend of Bilbray’s son, Brian P. Bilbray.

Neighbors in the campus-style complex on a bumpy stretch of Noyes Street say that they see Bilbray and his wife occasionally, though they asked not to be named.

Bilbray currently represents the 50th District, which includes Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach and coastal San Diego. He is running for election to the newly-drawn 52nd District, which includes Poway, Coronado, La Jolla, Pacific Beach and Mira Mesa.

The Watchdog is seeking to verify that San Diego’s five congressional delegates actually live in the districts they represent after longtime Indiana Senator Richard Lugar’s defeat in the state primary this month, partially caused by revelations that Lugar for years did not live in the state he served.

In order to determine the residential status, The Watchdog is checking public records and has contacted each representatives’ office with a brief questionnaire. A reporter is also visiting each neighborhood to get a sense of community roots.

Bilbray moved to Pacific Beach about six months ago from a condo in Clairemont. His office said the move had nothing to do with the new district boundaries but was about family considerations.

“People are going to draw their own conclusions, but the Congressman has always put his family’s well being above politics,” spokesman Fred Tayco said.

The Pacific Beach location is listed as a two-bedroom, one-bath, 800-square-foot condo built in 1977 and worth $223,000, according to the website Zillow.com.

Some 3,000 miles away, on Linton Lane in Alexandria, Virginia, the Bilbrays own a 1,864-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom house a few blocks north the Potomac River valued at $530,000, according to Virginia property records.

Bilbray has owned the Virginia home since 2000, just before the hiatus between his two stints in Congress, during which he worked as a private consultant.

Over the same period, his address in California has changed four times: a home in Imperial Beach, his mother’s home in Carlsbad, the condominium in Clairemont — and now, Pacific Beach.

“The girlfriend used to live there, and after her lease was up, the Bilbrays leased the unit out,” the spokesman said.

The condominium owner, Suzanne Francis, confirmed that the Bilbrays took over the lease.

“She (the girlfriend) recommended them to me, and I said, ‘Of course,’” Francis said. “They are great tenants.”

Questions of where Bilbray lives are not new.

Critics and political opponents have raised the issue ever since Bilbray, a South Bay political stalwart — whose family trust still owns six homes and apartments in Imperial Beach — changed his residency to Carlsbad in 2005 and ran for the 50th District seat vacated by Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

Bilbray said he moved to live with his then-ailing mother (who has since died), not because of political motivations.

At the time, Bilbray was still claiming a homeowner’s exemption on his property taxes in Imperial Beach. The designation entitles a homeowner to certain tax breaks and can only be applied to a person’s primary residence, which the homeowner affirms under penalty of perjury.

Bilbray’s family also claimed Virginia residency in a class-action lawsuit over tuition at the University of California filed six years ago. Bilbray’s children, Patrick and Briana, said the Virginia house was their home.

Bilbray and his children were co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit against UC sytem system, charging that the school system violated federal law by allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates while maintaining higher rates for out-of-state students.

Tayco said that the Bilbrays own the Virginia home and split time between the home and California when Congress is in session. Bilbray’s children, Tayco said, attended school in Virginia to be closer to their parents, who spend most of the year in D.C.

Those questions ultimately prompted District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to convene a grand jury to investigate Bilbray’s residency. The investigation was later dropped, and Bilbray went on to claim the congressional seat.

“He couldn’t have run for Congress if he wasn’t a legal resident of the state of California,” Tayco said. “He is a legal California resident.”

The law, in fact, only requires members of Congress to live in the state -- not necessarily in the district they represent.